Community guidelines template and examples

What community guidelines should include

Clear guidelines answer five questions before anyone has to ask:

• Purpose: who the space is for and what it's for.
• Behavior: how members treat each other and what belongs.
• What gets removed: spam, personal attacks, off-topic posts, private information.
• Consequences: the steps moderators take, from a reminder to a ban.
• Reports and appeals: how to flag a problem and how to contest a decision.

Tip: If two moderators could disagree about whether a post breaks a rule, the rule is too vague. Rewrite it or cut it.

Community guidelines template (copy and paste)

Swap the bracketed parts and paste this into a forum post, a Discord rules channel, a subreddit wiki or a page on your site.

Welcome to [community name]. This is a place to [purpose].
To keep it useful and friendly, please follow these 10 rules.

1. Be respectful. Criticize ideas, not people. No insults or name-calling.
2. No harassment or hate. Don't target anyone with abuse, slurs or threats, here or elsewhere.
3. Stay on topic. Keep posts relevant to [topic] and to the thread or channel you're in.
4. No spam. No repeated links, affiliate codes or undisclosed self-promotion.
5. Protect privacy. Never post anyone's personal information or private messages.
6. Keep it legal. No pirated material, malware or illegal content.
7. Be yourself. Don't impersonate members, moderators or public figures.
8. Label AI. Don't pass off AI-generated content as your own; if you quote it, say so.
9. Report, don't retaliate. Flag rule-breaking posts for the moderators instead of arguing.
10. Moderators decide. The team interprets these rules, including cases they don't spell out.

If you break a rule:
1. Correction: a private note explaining which rule and why.
2. Warning: a formal warning; repeat behavior leads to a ban.
3. Temporary ban: a timed break from posting.
4. Permanent ban: removal from [community name].
Spam bots, illegal content and doxxing skip straight to step 4.

Appeals: if you think we got it wrong, contact [email or link] within [number] days.

Comment policy template for blogs

A blog doesn't need a 10-rule charter. Put 5 to 7 lines next to the comment form: what's welcome, what gets removed, whether comments are held for review, and how to appeal.

We welcome questions, corrections and friendly disagreement about this post.
Keep it respectful and on topic; personal attacks, harassment and spam will be removed.
No promotional links, AI-generated comments or other people's private information.
Comments may be held for review and appear once a moderator approves them.
Repeated violations mean a permanent block from commenting.
Think we removed your comment by mistake? Email [address].

10 real community guidelines examples

1. Reddit: 8 sitewide rules

Reddit's rules fit in 8 numbered items plus an enforcement section, and each subreddit adds its own rules on top. Rule 1 sets the tone: "Remember the human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people."

Copy this: a short global rule set, with local rules per channel or sub-forum.

2. Discord: 27 guidelines in 3 groups

Discord's Community Guidelines, effective September 29, 2025, sort 27 numbered rules into "Respect Each Other", "Respect Discord" and "Follow Applicable Laws". Guideline 1 is one line: "Do not promote, coordinate, or engage in harassment."

Copy this: group a long rule list under 3 themes.

3. Stack Overflow: expectations plus a hard list

The Stack Overflow Code of Conduct, last updated May 31, 2023, says "we expect all users to treat one another with kindness and respect" and then lists 6 "Unacceptable Behavior" items. Ignoring it can lead to "account suspensions."

Copy this: pair positive expectations with a short list of what gets you removed.

4. YouTube: strikes that expire

YouTube's strike system usually starts with a warning, then a 1-week freeze for a first strike and 2 weeks for a second strike within 90 days. "3 strikes in the same 90-day period may result in your channel being permanently removed," and each strike expires 90 days after it's issued.

Copy this: spell out each penalty and when it resets.

5. Wikipedia: Five Pillars

Wikipedia's Five Pillars describe what the project is instead of listing don'ts, from "Wikipedia is an encyclopedia" to "Wikipedia's editors should treat each other with respect and civility" and "Wikipedia has no firm rules."

Copy this: lead with identity, so members can judge edge cases themselves.

6. The Guardian: 10 rules tied to moderation

The Guardian's community standards set out "10 simple guidelines which we expect all participants BTL (below the line) of the Guardian website to abide by, all of which directly inform our approach to moderation."

Copy this: say openly that your published rules are what moderators enforce.

7. The New York Times: reviewed, human comments

The Times comments page asks for "courteous, articulate and thoughtful conversations about our journalism" and sums it up as "In short, keep it respectful. Stay on topic." It adds: "Do not submit content generated by artificial intelligence tools."

Copy this: state upfront that comments "do not appear on the site until they have been approved."

8. Contributor Covenant: a 4-step ladder

Contributor Covenant 2.1, which its site says is adopted "by thousands of communities, including 9 of the 10 largest open source projects in the world," escalates from Correction to Warning, Temporary Ban and Permanent Ban. Version 3.0 uses Warning, Temporarily Limited Activities, Temporary Suspension and Permanent Ban.

Copy this: the ladder itself, shown below.

9. Discourse Meta: friendly headings

The guidelines on Meta, Discourse's own community, use 11 plain headings such as "Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree", "If You See a Problem, Flag It" and "Don't Post AI".

Copy this: ask members to flag problems instead of arguing in replies.

10. GitHub: rules anyone can reuse

GitHub's Community Guidelines ask people to "Be welcoming and open-minded", "Be respectful" and "Be empathetic", then list 5 enforcement actions, from removing content to suspending accounts. The text is dedicated to the public domain under CC0-1.0.

Copy this: list every action moderators can take.

How to enforce community rules

A ladder tells members what comes next. This one follows Contributor Covenant 2.1:

1. Correction: a private, written warning that explains why the behavior was inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.
2. Warning: a formal warning with consequences for continued behavior, including no interaction with the people involved for a set period.
3. Temporary ban: a timed removal from the community.
4. Permanent ban: "A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community."

Contributor Covenant 3.0 says lower rungs may be skipped; do that for spam bots, illegal content and doxxing. Let minor warnings expire: Discord says most violations "expire after 90 days," and YouTube strikes expire 90 days after they're issued.

For day-to-day work, see comment moderation and how to deal with trolls.

How to roll out your guidelines

CommentCamp, our product, is a free place to run these rules on your own site: comments and community spaces for independent publishers and WordPress sites, with automated spam filtering and a moderation queue, and you set the rules for your community. It's $0 for site owners and funded by optional member Pro, not ads. It's in private early access, so join the waitlist for an email invite.

• Pin them where people post: the top of the forum, a Discord rules channel, the signup screen and next to the comment box.
• Enforce them the same way for regulars and newcomers.
• Give every removal or ban a way to appeal.
• Revisit the rules when a new problem shows up, such as a wave of AI-written replies.

Note: If you can't watch every thread, close comments on older posts. The New York Times regularly closes comments on older articles and videos.

Starting from scratch? Read how to build an online community.